Chicago lottery winner's body to be exhumed

This undated photo provided by the Illinois Lottery shows Urooj Khan, 46, of Chicago's West Rogers Park neighborhood, posing with a winning lottery ticket. The Cook County medical examiner said Monday, Jan. 7, 2013, that Khan was fatally poisoned with cyanide July 20, 2012, a day after he collected nearly $425,000 in lottery winnings. (AP Photo/Illinois Lottery)
— AP

This undated photo provided by the Illinois Lottery shows Urooj Khan, 46, of Chicago's West Rogers Park neighborhood, posing with a winning lottery ticket. The Cook County medical examiner said Monday, Jan. 7, 2013, that Khan was fatally poisoned with cyanide July 20, 2012, a day after he collected nearly $425,000 in lottery winnings. (AP Photo/Illinois Lottery)
/ AP

CHICAGO 
A Chicago medical examiner says he plans to exhume the body of a lottery winner poisoned with a lethal dose of cyanide.

Cook County Medical Examiner Stephen Cina (SEE'-nuh) said Tuesday that paperwork is being prepared for a judge to approve and he hopes to exhume Urooj Khan's body in the next few weeks.

Khan's death on July 20 was initially ruled a result of natural causes. But a relative's request for a deeper look resulted in the startling conclusion months later that Kahn was killed with the highly toxic poison as he was about to collect $425,000 in winnings.

Cina says exhuming the body could allow for more tests that could be presented in court if the case goes to trial.

Police have not announced any suspects.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

Urooj Khan had returned to Chicago from the hajj pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia inspired to lead a better life and had sworn off buying lottery tickets - except just this once.

To his astonishment, the scratch-off ticket was a $1 million winner. But the day after the state issued the check last July, Khan suddenly died, leaving authorities with a baffling mystery and a homicide investigation.

After initially ruling that he died of natural causes, the Cook County Medical Examiner's office now has determined that Khan, 46, ingested a lethal dose of cyanide. The case was reopened after a relative pleaded for an expanded screening, and the Chicago police now are cooperating in an investigation into who might have killed him.

"It's pretty unusual," said Cook County Medical Examiner Stephen Cina, commenting on the rarity of cyanide poisonings. "I've had one, maybe two cases out of 4,500 autopsies I've done."

Khan, who owned a number of dry cleaners, stopped in at the convenience store near his home in the West Rogers Park neighborhood on the city's North Side in June and bought a ticket for an instant lottery game.

Convenience store clerk Ashur Oshana told The Associated Press on Monday that Khan had gone on the pilgrimage and told him he was done gambling. But Khan couldn't resist and scratched off the winner in front of Oshana.

At an Illinois Lottery ceremony days later, Khan recalled that he jumped up and down in the store and repeatedly shouted, "I hit a million!"

"Winning the lottery means everything to me," he said at the June 26 ceremony, also attended by his wife, Shabana Ansari; their daughter, Jasmeen Khan; and several friends. He said he would put some of his winnings into his businesses and donate some to a children's hospital.

Khan opted for a lump sum of slightly more than $600,000. After taxes, the winnings amounted to about $425,000, said lottery spokesman Mike Lang. The check was issued from the state Comptroller's Office on July 19, the day before Khan died. It was cashed Aug. 15, Lang said, explaining that if a lottery winner dies, the money typically goes to his or her estate.